Fields of endeavor ranging from manufacturing to highway toll collection present a continuing challenge to monitor the movements of objects. There is thus a continuing goal to interrogate the location of objects in an inexpensive and streamlined manner.
One example of an identification system for monitoring the locations of objects uses an RF (radio-frequency) transponder device (commonly known simply as a “tag”) affixed to an object to be monitored, in which a reader or interrogator unit transmits an interrogation signal to the device. The tag receives the interrogation signal and then generates and transmits a responsive signal.
An example will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In the E-ZPASSSM system for toll collection, in use from Massachusetts to Virginia, a vehicle 102 has a tag 104 mounted on its windshield. As the vehicle 102 approaches a toll barrier, a reader antenna 106 mounted in the toll barrier interrogates the tag 104. The identification received from the tag 104 allows the authority maintaining the toll facility to deduct the amount of the toll from a prepaid account associated with the tag 104.
Currently in the art, RFID systems use frequency separation and time domain multiplexing in combination to allow multiple readers to operate closely together within the bandwidth limitations imposed by radio regulatory authorities. In transportation and other applications, there is a compelling need for readers to operate in close proximity. In the example of a toll collection system, as seen in FIG. 1, readers in many lanes of traffic 108 must be operated side by side to read tags 104 present in each lane 108 simultaneously.
Many technical obstacles limit system performance when readers are closely spaced. One of the major problems or technical obstacles is downlink interference at the tag. That occurs when a tag 104 receives the downlink signals DLS from two or more reader antennas 106, such that the downlink signals DLS interfere with one another. In systems using amplitude modulation such as on-off keying, such interference results in waveform distortion after detection.